Arsenal's Champions League statement win could be the sign of a season to remember

LONDON -- While Arsenal are inactive searching for a connection triumph to denote their Premier League rubric credentials, the hold for a UEFA Champions League equivalent is over.

For astir an hr connected Tuesday night, Atlético Madrid's sojourn to Emirates Stadium was the combative, gritty contention galore anticipated beforehand. And then, an detonation happened: The location that Atlético manager Diego Simeone has stoically built implicit astir 14 years was shattered by 4 goals successful 14 minutes, and the Gunners won 4-0. The expanded, bloated format of this radical signifier dilutes the value of aboriginal results connected paper, but the effect this could person connected Arsenal's young radical aiming to yet adhd trophies to years of advancement mightiness beryllium profound.

Simeone's broadside were beaten 4-0 astatine Benfica past play but they are seldom handed a second-half drubbing similar this. "We competed precise good until the archetypal Arsenal goal," helium said afterward. "After that we could person defended better. They did precise good and they got their goals and of people acceptable pieces are truthful important successful shot and it tin beryllium cardinal successful this contention due to the fact that it comes down to good margins successful presumption of taking the crippled successful your power oregon not.

"And it is not down to atrocious luck, but mistakes, truthful they made the astir of our mistakes, took their chances and each their large chances turned into goals."

Arsenal's set-piece prowess is communal knowledge. While the Premier League has been incapable to find an reply -- Arsenal's 37 goals from corners since the commencement of the 2023-24 play is 16 much than anyone other -- surely Simeone, the game's finest antiaircraft coach, could bash so.

It appeared for a portion that would beryllium the case. And the reply was simple, if highly hard to execute: don't springiness them an opportunity. Arsenal had conscionable 1 country successful the opening 45 minutes. Declan Rice's 57th-minute escaped footwear that Gabriel Magalhães headed successful was, arsenic defined by Opta, Arsenal's archetypal accidental from a acceptable portion each night.

The extremity opened the floodgates. Gabriel Martinelli curled successful a sublime 2nd 7 minutes aboriginal earlier a brace from Viktor Gyökeres, who ended a 601-minute extremity drought astatine nine level, landed Arsenal the benignant of scoreline that volition marque Europe beryllium up and instrumentality notice. Those 4 goals were much of a acold ablution than thing Atlético experienced a time earlier erstwhile the blistery h2o was concisely unavailable aft their grooming league astatine Emirates Stadium.

Arsenal's summertime spending spree led galore to judge they present person 1 of the champion squads successful Europe. But successful grinding their mode to the apical of the array successful England, they had not produced the performances to warrant that hype. This volition service arsenic a notation constituent for the future, a nighttime erstwhile a mates of those caller signings felt much astatine home. Martín Zubimendi patrolled the midfield with authority. Gyökeres got the goals his manager, Mikel Arteta, believed his show warranted, adjacent if the archetypal owed everything to a ample deflection disconnected Dávid Hancko and the 2nd was an unmissable close-range decorativeness disconnected his thigh.

"He deserved it due to the fact that everything that we were seeing successful presumption of what helium was bringing to the squad and however overmuch helium was helping the squad successful galore ar...